Briggan Krauss
Descending To End
Knitting Factory
One of my favorite reactions to a new piece of music is “What the fuck…?” I love surprise, being totally caught off guard by something you expected something very different from. Such was my reaction to Descending To End. I know Krauss from Pigpen, Good Kitty, and 300, but this is an altogether different side of the man.
I see in the credits “Saxophones recorded at Knitting Factory Studio, NYC” Well? Where are they? I can hear plenty of guitars, computer effects, turntables. Unless… no, couldn’t be. Could it? Is that droning actually a saxophone?! Wow, Briggan Krauss gets my respect for whatever that is. Sounds plenty like a guitar to me though.
For reference points, take the collage work of Bob Ostertag, a healthy dose of eclecticism and a sense of humor, and you have this project. For what it is, it is a lot of fun. Sounds groan up from the cellars, dive-bomb you from the ceiling and jump out at you from behind the couch. OK, on track three, there is definitely something I can identify as a saxophone. It sounds as if he’s been experimenting with electronic treatments, and has developed quite a taste for layering. Very dense layering.
Kudos to Krauss for trying something very new, and thoroughly unexpected.
Knitting Factory Works, 74 Leonard St., New York, NY 10013; http://www.knittingfactory.com/
